Cops: Empty house 'rented' via possible web scam

Published 3:07 pm, Monday, December 10, 2012

Police are investigating what they said may be a Craigslist scam involving a rental house on Fleming Lane.

A woman who lives out-of-state called police to ask that they check on the house that belonged to her now-deceased parents. She said the house was for sale and that no one has permission to live there, but she had just received what she considered a suspiciously high electric bill for the home that was supposed to be unoccupied.

Officers found a woman living at the house, who told them she found the rental listed on the Craigslist website on Nov. 14 and gave a man named "Randall Hill" a $2,700 deposit for the lease. She said she was paying $900 monthly rent for the house, and had moved in Nov. 22.

The tenant also told police that initially there had been an issue getting a key to gain entry to the house. She said the phone number for Hill has since been disconnected.